Cougars dreams of Region VI title dashed by Seward

Cougars dreams of Region VI title dashed by Seward
The Barton County Community College women's basketball team was looking to reestablish itself as the top team in Region VI. No other team has more Region VI titles – 8 – that the Cougars. But standing in the way was the new powerhouse of the region – Seward County. And the new powerhouse showed they are still the king of the hill. Seward used a big 2nd half to hand Barton its worst loss of the season, 63-38 in the Region VI title game at the Bicentennial Center in Salina. The loss ends Barton and 1st year coach Lane Lord's season at 22-12. Seward County, 32-2, will move onto its 4th NJCAA National Tournament next week at the same venue in Salina.

Highlights
The Saints, winners of back-to-back Region VI titles and 3 of the past 4, were in a dogfight for the 1st half. Seward jumped to a 23-14 lead but a pair of 3-pointers by Sharece Love put Barton back in the contest and by halftime the Cougars had pulled to within a pair of Seward, trailing just 26-24.

But the 2nd half would be the most difficult for Barton all season. The Cougars did not score for the 1st 5 minutes of the half as Seward built the lead to 35-24. Barton finally broke through with a jumper by Love but Seward continued the good defense and allowed the Saints to push the lead to 46-28 with 8:33 to play. Coach Lord used his 3rd timeout of the half at that point, but there was nothing that could stop the Saints run and a Region VI title by that point.

Barton continued to struggle from the floor the entire half, ending by hitting just 6-of-35 shots during the 20-minute session. That compared to a 17-of-25 effort by the Saints wracked up a 37-14 half on the scoreboard for the Saints. For the game, Barton hit 16-of-65 shots from the floor for 25 percent while Seward connected on 26-of-52 for 50 percent.

Sunshine Uli, who made 4 of her 1st 5 shots, ended with 9 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the floor. Love added 8 and Brianna Buchanan 7. Uli, who had 19 points in the quarterfinal win over Coffeyville, and Vivian Ewalefo were named to the All-Tournament team. Whitney Pegram led Seward with19 points and 11 rebounds.

The contest was the final game for sophomores Ewalefo, Carly Bloomfield, Trenice Hines, and Amber Jeffrey.

Stats
Full box scores and stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next
Season complete as Region VI Runner-Ups with a 22-12 record.